Zimbabwe - Up close and personal with Wild Dogs (1 Viewer)

Based on the lack of up to date trip reports that I could find Zimbabwe does not appear to be a popular destination, but probably deserves to be much more regularly visited by birders. I found the country to be beautiful, friendly and safe and for Africa almost hassle free, in fact standing outside the airport waiting to be collected by a friend there was no-one to bother me at all. My experience certainly changed my pre-conceived ideas of the country, this is not to say that it does not have political issues that may put off some tourists, but I would love to go back and explore it further. The people of Zimbabwe would certainly appreciate the additional tourists and you would have a holiday to remember.

Whilst the country does not have any endemic birds it does have 2 species only shared with Mozambique, Chirinda Apalis and Robert’s Prinia, as well as Swynnerton’s Robin which is very localised, as well as a host of other great birds and wildlife, including a good concentration of African Wild Dogs.

21st March

I arrived in Harare via Dubai, the plane landing at 17.05, which was 15 minutes early and having paid my $55 for a visa I was outside waiting with my baggage within 20 minutes. Collected by my friend Rosemary Groom, an expert on African Wild Dogs, we were on our way to our Harare B&B, via a pizza place.

22nd March

Stepping outside of the B&B in the morning European Bee-eaters were the first birds noted as they flew over calling and a day would not pass for the rest of the trip when these were not seen or heard. Rosemary had some errands to run in Harare so we spent all day around town, so there were not too many birds seen, but the obvious highlight were several Abdim’s Storks, which were only see in Harare. Purple-crested Turaco, Crested Barbet, Kurrichane Thrush, Variable Sunbird and Southern Black Flycatcher were all noted in gardens of various friends visited and to add that real African touch we were invited to a braai in the evening.

23rd March

An early start and we were on the 4.5 hour drive south to Chishakwe Ranch in Save Valley Conservancy (“SVC”) where Rosemary lives. As always when on a long drive in a new country there was a lot to see on the way, but we were also keen to get to SVC so the only birds identified were big and obvious such as White Stork, Black-headed Heron, Secretarybird, Black-shouldered Kite, Long-crested Eagle and Lilac-breasted Roller. A male Red-footed Falcon on a wire proved to be the only one seen during the trip, I was probably a bit late to have seen the large numbers that migrate through Zimbabwe and as both Western Red-footed Falcon and Amur Falcon are possible and we did not stop I will never know which it was.

As promised by Rosemary we picked up my first lifer between the Conservancy entrance and Rosemary’s house with Meve’s Glossy Starling proving to be very common. Another of the birds I had been guaranteed was waiting in the garden on arrival, a fabulous pair of Meyer’s Parrots were feeding in the baobab, unfortunately bees had taken over their previous years nest hole after an elephant knocked down the tree in which the bees had their hive, Southern Red-billed Hornbills were however nesting in the tree.

Whilst Rosemary caught up on some work I explored the area around her house, although a little cautiously at first knowing that lions had made kills in her garden previously. Some of the species I encountered and I would get to see on a daily basis included 5 species of Dove, Grey Lourie, African Hoopoe, Chinspot Batis, White Helmetshrike, Red-backed Shrike, Fork-tailed Drongo, Southern Black Tit and Blue-breasted Cordonbleu. I spent quite a while studying the Glossy-Starling’s eventually deciding that they were all Greater Blue-eared. A pair of Groundscraper Thrushes were hopping around the garden and whilst I assumed I would see these regularly it was not until over 2 weeks later that I would see another.

I had been hearing an African Fish Eagle for a while, so eventually spent some time scanning the skies, eventually locating the Fish Eagle and also seeing White-backed Vultures, Bateleur and Wahlberg’s Eagle. The only Swifts positively identified were African Palm and Little, but over the next few days I would also add White-rumped and African Black over the garden.

Fortunately I had not wandered too far as a radio call from one of the African Wildlife Conservation Fund scouts notified us that he was with the Batani pack of African Wild Dogs and that they were in a good area to see them and I was keen to go and see them so off we headed.

SVC is divided into multiple ranches with different owners, so visitors are restricted to game drives within the ranch on which they are staying, but as a researcher Rosemary has fairly free access to all ranches within the conservancy for the purpose of her work. The drive to where the pack of dogs was, was mostly through Sango ranch and the quantity of Masai Giraffe, Plains Zebra, Impala and Blue Wildebeast on this property was very impressive.

Stops to watch the game delayed us for a while and unfortunately by the time we got to where the dogs were they had moved and a close approach by vehicle was no longer possible, so we had to approach on foot. Whilst we were able to get close enough to download the data from one of the dogs collars they soon saw us and ran off through the trees with only the briefest of views achieved.

As the dogs had been near a water source I was able to add Hammerkop and African Openbill to my growing bird list. The return drive was in the dark, which enabled us to see Fiery-necked Nightjar and Spotted Eagle-Owl both sitting on the road. Whilst I cooked some dinner on our return one of my real African bogey birds, African Scop’s Owl, called from nearby, but by the time I was ready to go searching it had gone quiet and would have to wait for another day.

Already some gripping Meyer's Parrot shots Mark, looking forward to more :t:

Larry Wheatland said:

Already some gripping Meyer's Parrot shots Mark, looking forward to more :t:

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They were common garden birds and if you like those you would love Seldomseen in the Vumba mountains where garden birds included Buff-spotted Flufftail.

Mark Harper said:

They were common garden birds and if you like those you would love Seldomseen in the Vumba mountains where garden birds included Buff-spotted Flufftail.

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Grrrrr.

24th March

Before I arrived in Zimbabwe Rosemary had advised me that she had some urgent funding submissions that were due in by the end of March, so she would not be able to take me on game drives all day every day. This suited me just fine, as it enabled me to get to really know the birds of the local area and spend some time making sound recordings and photographing birds. Rosemary did give me a task to work on though, as she wanted to support the Zimbabwe bird atlas project, she asked me to keep accurate records of the birds in the vicinity of her house. So whilst Rosemary was tied to her computer I began to explore the local area a bit more widely, although constantly staying vigilant for wild animals.

There is a collection of around 15 – 20 properties in the Chishakwe ranch and these tend to have gardens with larger trees and more dense undergrowth so wandering around here did offer a good selection of birds that were harder to see out in the surrounding bush, which was predominated by acacia trees. On the edge of the collection of buildings was a slightly overgrown dirt airstrip, so I hoped that by walking this on a regular basis I may come across some quails or buttonquails, however on my second day in preparation for the Easter weekend visitors the airstrip was largely cleared of vegetation. It did however provide regular sightings of Wattled Lapwings and was good for wildlife with Black-backed Jackal’s, Impala and Warthogs always to be seen early in the morning.

Having spent too little time studying the bird songs before travelling I found myself chasing up calls only to find that it was the same species I saw earlier just giving a different call. Although by the end of my time in SVC I was getting quite good at recognising the common species. Most of the migrants from Europe had already departed, but Willow and Garden Warblers were initially vocally common, although the latter was very secretive. Spotted Flycatchers were numerous, much different to my experiences from the UK over the last few years. Another migrant ready to head back north, but not quite as far, was Woodland Kingfisher, with several seen in the first few days, but becoming scarcer later in the trip.

I was a little concerned that weavers and whydah’s would all be in non-breeding plumage and whilst the majority probably were, as I saw very few weavers and none around nests except Red-billed Buffalo-Weavers, there were however a few superb male Eastern Paradise Whydahs displaying in the area.

One bird that started to test me on the first full day and every day after that was Grey-headed Bushshrike, lying in bed I could hear them, sitting in the garden I could hear them, standing under the tree they were in I could hear them, but could I see one. In fact they are on my checklist for every day, but two, when we were in the mountains, but each time it says heard only. It really does seem impossible that a large brightly coloured bird should be so difficult to see, they definitely earned their local name of “Ghost Bird”.

Fortunately some of the other “shrikes” were easier to see, Red-backed in particular were exceptionally common and Tropical Boubou, Brown-crowned Tchagra, White-crowned Shrike and Black Cuckoo-Shrike were seen every couple of days. The “shrike” highlight for me though was Retz’s Helmetshrike, which I saw a party of 7 near the airstrip and then in the afternoon a party came through the garden, I only saw these though on 2 days so are not as easy as the White Helmetshrikes, which were seen daily.

What became one of my daily highlights was also seen around the gardens and could usually be picked up by its call or if not a flash of red as it flew. This was a Great Spotted Cuckoo that was being fed by Meve’s Glossy Starlings and I spent a lot of time watching the interaction between these, its begging call whilst similar to Meve’s Glossy Starling call, was repeated so regularly as to distinguish it quite easily. I particularly enjoyed trying to photograph the moment that food was passed, but still never achieved the exact shot I was looking for.

Having spent the morning exploring the neighbourhood I spent the early afternoon in a deckchair and let the birds come to me. Common Scimitarbill, Violet-backed Starling, Burnt-necked Eremomela and Arrow-marked Babbler all put in an appearance in the garden and Hooded Vulture and Wire-tailed Swallowwere noted overhead.

Later in the afternoon we visited a nearby dam, which was within walking distance of the house, but the dense vegetation which could hide large animals made it much safer to drive there. Best birds on show were several Water Thick-knees, with other waders including Wood and Common Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Three-banded and Blacksmith Plovers. A little further away was a much larger reservoir although this was largely devoid of birds, with only Malachite Kingfisher added to the list, there were several Waterbuck and Kudu to be enjoyed whilst we had a beer and watched the sun go down.

Back at Rosemary’s house I was now ready for when the African Scop’s Owl put in an appearance, definitely preferable searching for this than to watching Strictly Come Dancing from 2011. Fortunately one of the two that could be heard arrived in the baobab tree right outside and even posed for a few photographs, which made a great end to the day.

25th March

The day began with a trip to Sango Ranch, as one of the AWCF cars needed some maintenance, so Rosemary took the opportunity of having me there to follow in a second vehicle and give her a lift back home. The drive across directly into an early morning rising sun combined with the dust of the vehicle I was following required concentration so nothing much was seen, but by the workshop I was able to see my lifer Yellow-bellied Greenbul. On the way back a Natal Francolin was seen well having heard and glimpsed several previously.

Having had such a successful first full day around Chishakwe and with it already getting hot by the time we got back it was hard to find too many additional species, but Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Long-billed Crombec, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and Cut-throat Finch were seen before I retired to a deckchair with a cold drink and a book. A pair of Black-backed Puffbacks appeared in the tree above me and called away for 15 minutes or so allowing me to get a good recording and a lone Marabou Stork overhead was the only one I would see.

In the late afternoon we had to return to Sango Ranch to collect the car and took the opportunity to do a bit of a game drive, but only added Eland to the mammal list. Driving along some overgrown tracks flushed both Harlequin Quail and Small Buttonquails and a lone Lappet-faced Vulture sat atop a baobab.

26th March

We were going to make another attempt to see African Wild Dogs today, so my early morning walk was limited so that I would be locatable in the event of the dogs being found in a suitable place to view. Despite this I still managed to see Grey-backed Camaroptera, Ashy Flycatcher and a male White-breasted Sunbird, which helped to identify some of the female sunbirds I had seen over the last few days. Back in the garden baobab I was able to enjoy watching a Cardinal Woodpecker until the call I had been waiting for came.

The dogs that we were going to see was the Batani pack, which we had tried to see a few days earlier. The reason for going to see this pack again was that the scout had only counted 26 dogs, whereas it should have been 30 and Rosemary was keen to identify which 4 were missing. Hopefully the 4 dogs that were missing had formed a new pack, but it could have been that they had run through a line of snares.

It took us well over an hour to drive to the dogs via stops for Crested Francolin, Brown Snake Eagle and Little Bee-eater. Fortunately on arrival the dogs were very relaxed and approachable in the vehicle and we spent the best part of an hour attempting to photograph every dog in the pack. By the time we had finished we had taken the best part of 1,000 photos, fortunately Rosemary had a student working for her that would have to sort through all of these to work out which dogs were missing.

It had been most enjoyable to spend all of this time with these wonderful animals, so when Rosemary asked if I wanted to go back for lunch or go and see another pack I jumped at the opportunity to go and see some more Wild Dogs. You really start to appreciate how big the Conservancy is when you then drive for another hour to get to the next pack. This second pack known as the Splinter pack comprised 23 dogs and whilst we got good views they were in thicker woodland and were moving which made them difficult to follow in a vehicle, but at least Rosemary was able to download the data from one of the dogs collars.

It was later afternoon by the time we got back, so the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and going through the days photographs. Subsequently the identity of the 4 missing dogs were established and the fact that one of these bore a radio collar enabled them to be located and confirm that they were all well and they were likely to be the start of a new pack.

great report and I'm very envious. I'd love to see African wild dogs in the wild. The few times I was in SA I didn't manage to spot any.
I look forward to the rest of the report.

RonW said:

great report and I'm very envious. I'd love to see African wild dogs in the wild. The few times I was in SA I didn't manage to spot any.
I look forward to the rest of the report.

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Glad you are enjoying it. For more on the Wild Dogs see this blog entry I wrote.

http://zimbabwewilddogs.wildlifedir...st-blog-from-a-recent-visitor-to-save-valley/

Great report so far Mark

27th March

After the yesterday’s experience with Wild Dogs today was a much more relaxed affair. An early morning walk had me chasing up a song I did not recognise, which turned out to be a Brubru and a song I did recognise Orange-breasted Bushshrike, which was a little more obliging than Grey-headed Bushshrike which continued to torment me from deep cover.

I had been hearing an Acrocephalus singing from within a small maize plantation at the bottom of the garden, so I made a bit of an effort to try and see it and also to match its song to the various recordings of possibilities I had on my iPod, eventually concluding that it was an African Reed Warbler.

Today turned out to be a day for Storks, with a Wooly-necked Stork near the airstrip early in the morning and 2 Black and 6 White Storks over the garden during the day.

Returning for breakfast I was greeted by a Bearded Woodpecker in the baobab in the garden, shortly followed by a female Klaas’s Cuckoo. After breakfast I borrowed a vehicle and drove to the nearby dam, all of the same waders were present and I spent some time photographing an obliging if sleepy Wood Sandpiper. Additions to the list came in the form of Grey-headed and Giant Kingfishers, whilst Pied Kingfishers were also present.

The rest of the day was fairly relaxed, until late afternoon when we headed to Moon Rock, to enjoy the full moon and have a few drinks. This also provided me with one of my most wanted Zimbabwe birds the Boulder Chat, a pair of these circled us singing away and enabling me to get a good sound recording, which became the first recording of these on the Xeno-canto website. As darkness fell I hoped for an owl or nightjar to put in an appearance, but there was nothing to be heard apart from an African Elephant crashing around in the trees below us.

28th March

This turned out to be one of those days that I will remember for a long time to come, but first I did my normal morning walk, but this time reversing my normal direction. This decision really paid dividends as I came across a party of noisy Terrestrial Brownbuls and whilst watching them I noted a Red-backed Scrub-Robin was picking about on the ground next to them. To top this off turning round from watching these I saw something fly up into the low branch of a distant tree, raising my binoculars thinking it was probably just a Kurrichane Thrush I was surprised to find myself looking at a Collared Palm-Thrush.

The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful, but I did add a beautiful Yellow-breasted Apalis. Back in the garden a female Red-billed Firefinch put in an appearance.

Rosemary had been wanting to put a second collar on the Mapura pack of dogs, so had sent out one of her scouts to see if he could find them in a good area for darting them. Mid-morning the call came in that Rueben had located them and we we were soon packed up and on route, hoping that they would still be there when we arrived.

It took as about 45 minutes to get to the point on the road where we would meet Rueben. Initially the area did not look too promising, as the roadside vegetation here was quite thick, but Rueben assured us that it was much more open where the dogs were, about 500 metres away. Heading off-road we drove to about 200 metres from the dogs staying downwind and out of sight and here we spent some time whilst Rosemary and Rueben prepared the drugs and dart gun.

Now all set we moved to a position from where we could see the dogs. Rosemary advised that I should stay in the vehicle and she would send Rueben back for me and that it could take some time, especially if the dogs decided to move and they had to give chase. So whilst I remained inside the 4x4, Rosemary hopped onto the back of Rueben’s motorbike and they circled around the dogs, looking for a good angle to shoot from. Whilst the vegetation was not that thick it was only occasionally that I could obtain glimpses of them through the trees and attempt to grab a few photographs of the pursuit.

Despite having been warned that it could take some time to get into a suitable position to take a clean shot it was only 3 or 4 minutes later that I heard the first shot, well actually more of a “phut” sound as high pressure air is released, but could not see Rosemary or Rueben and did not know if it was a hit. At the sound of the shot the dogs that I could see all jumped up, but only ambled a few yards, as though searching for a threat, but unable to identify they either sat back down or stood looking around.

Nothing further happened for the next couple of minutes and then I heard another shot, so assumed that the first shot had missed. The dogs reacted similarly the second time around to the first, but perhaps a little more on edge and after a couple of minutes I noticed that one of the dogs was a little wobbly on its legs and I then noted the dart in its flank. I was able to grab a few photos of it before it wobbled out of sight.

Rueben then came back and drove the 4×4 over to where Rosemary was in the process of blindfolding a dog, it was only at this stage that I found out that she had successfully darted two dogs, only the second time ever that she had done this. Studying my photographs later I noted that I had captured both darted dogs in one of my images. Having first darted a male, called Nyoka, he had behaved impeccably walking off slowly and remaining in view, so Rosemary had taken the opportunity to also dart the already collared female, Forax, to replace the old GPS collar with a VHF collar.

With two dogs to process it was going to be all hands to the deck. First task was to help carry both dogs into the shade where they could be worked on and then I was required to keep them both cool by spraying them with water. Whilst I was doing this Rueben was putting on the new collars and Rosemary was carefully removing the darts and applying an antiseptic spray. With plenty of water applied and pulse-oximeters attached to their tongues to monitor their pulse rate and blood oxygen levels, I could now enjoy the experience of being up close to the dogs. Although having to hold one of Nyoka’s back legs in the air and tackle out of the way whilst Rosemary took blood, was a little closer than I anticipated getting.

Fortunately, in what was probably the textbook example of a double darting, everything went exactly to plan. Rosemary was able to take blood, tissue and hair samples and give the dogs a shot of antibiotics and I was able to help with taking various measurements and photos to show the condition of their teeth.

This had all happened in the space of 40 minutes, which for me had flown by and it was then time for Rosemary to wake them up. We backed the 4×4 away to a safe distance and Rosemary applied the antidote to both dogs. After a brief time Nyoka stood up and after falling over a couple of times walked around in circles like a drunk for the next 5 minutes, whilst Forax remained lying down. With Nyoka still staggering and me starting to get a little worried in the delay in any activity from Forax, she stood up and walked off in a perfectly straight line, as though she had just been enjoying an afternoon nap.

We then left them to join up with the rest of the pack and drove back to Chishakwe, myself having thoroughly enjoyed that once in a lifetime experience of being close to these beautiful endangered animals and I was on a high for the rest of the day.

For a few more photos of the collaring see http://zimbabwewilddogs.wildlifedir...st-blog-from-a-recent-visitor-to-save-valley/

29 March

It was now getting hard to find new species, but I still managed to add Golden-tailed Woodpecker and Collared Sunbird, but it was nice to be able to relax and just spend time enjoying the beautiful weather and whatever birds passed through or over the garden.

Later in the day we decided to go out on a short night drive, starting by driving along the airstrip, which was covered in Impala with a few Wattled Lapwings. Things improved as we reached the end of runway when I spotted in our headlights a Three-banded Courser crouching down. We failed to find any Owls or Nightjars during the rest of our drive, but Rosemary did spot a Giant Bushbaby in the canopy of a roadside tree.

30 March

An early morning walk added a few more species to the list with Black-headed Oriole, Grey Tit-Flycatcher and Red-headed Weaver seen before breakfast. After breakfast I drove to the nearby dam, where 2 White-faced Whistling-Ducks had joined the usual Egyptian Geese. A lone Gabar Goshawk and an African Grey Hornbill were also additions to the list here.

Late in afternoon we drove over to Sango ranch to visit the Nyala captive breeding program run by Dusty, one of Rosemary’s friends. The animals spend all day wandering free and come back in the evening to the safety of their enclosure and supplemental feeding. Whilst there we were invited out to go and try to capture a leopard, which I was all for trying even though the chances were slim them having failed the previous 3 nights. So we drove out to the site, which was an hour away, where a leg snare was set up next to a zebra leg tied up in a tree. With the trap prepared we retreated to a few hundred metres away got out the camp chairs and sat in the darkness, whilst lions and hyenas called from around us.

For the next three hours we sat listening for anything setting off the snare, enjoying the views of the milky way and counting at least 9 satellites passing overhead. Whilst we waited we listened to a Pearl-spotted Owlet, African Barred Owlet and African Scops Owl calling, whilst this was impressive to me, Dusty told me he had once counted 7 different species of Owl calling whilst lying in bed.

When the moon came up and with no sound from the snare, we decided to head home, but first we had to set off the snare so that it could not trap anything during the night. Driving back to the snare we flushed a Small Buttonquail off the track which flew up and landed on the bonnet and sat there until we reached the snare, when it flew back over the top of the cab. There was no evidence that anything had visited the zebra leg, so the snare was set off, but unfortunately too much grass had covered the snare and it failed to even trap the stick used for setting it off, so the chances of it catching a leopard were close to zero. Sean who had been sat at the back of the truck then told Rosemary to hold out her hand and he placed the Small Buttonquail on it, which had landed in the back of the truck right at his feet. The Buttonquail looked around for a few seconds before flying a few metres and diving into the long grass, which was our signal to drive home.

31st March

Rosemary had submitted her funding proposals so was now free for us to enjoy a day out, so we headed across the Conservancy to the Save River, although we started a little late and it was quite a long drive with stops for Tawny Eagle, European Roller, Southern Carmine Bee-eater and Golden-breasted Bunting on the way. Hence, it was mid-morning by the time we reached the river and we had already missed the best time of day to look for riverine forest specialities and the best we could find was a Brown-hooded Kingfisher in the forest and several White-crowned Lapwings on the sandbanks.

The large trees along the river looked perfect for Pel’s Fishing Owls and although there are no confirmed reports from SVC they are to be expected, unfortunately I was not able to find one, but some compensation came in several White-fronted Bee-eaters hawking insects from the riverside trees.

We took a longer route home via several waterholes where we added Saddle-billed Stork at one and another had good numbers of African Openbill Storks feeding on snails. Having previously seen several distant accipters that had remained unidentified, it was good to get some decent views at last and be able to identify both Shikra and African Little Sparrowhawk.

1st April

Today we were heading away from Save Valley Conservancy, but first some friends were popping round to visit Rosemary, so I had chance for a short walk to the airstrip and back. On route I noted that there were two large, but different sized, raptors in the lone baobab alongside the airstrip, cutting through the bush to get a better angle to view these from I flushed a Three-banded Courser that flew for a short distance and I was able to get a few photos, before it disappeared into thicker vegetation.

Returning to the two raptors, the smaller one had taken off and was circling overhead, where it’s shape and colour identified it as a dark phase Wahlberg’s Eagle. The other bird remaining in the tree was a Tawny Eagle, another addition to my Chishakwe ranch list. Turning around to walk back I saw a group of finches, flying down to feed on the ground amongst long grass, whilst most of these were Blue-breasted Cordonbleu’s there was at least one superb Green-winged Pytilia amongst them.

Eventually we were on route to the Vumba mountains, we were staying at Seldomseen a collection of a 3 or 4 self-catering holiday cottages surrounded by forest. It took us a few hours to get there and was just after lunch when we checked in, on arrival we were asked if we wanted a bird guide ($5 per person per hour), but for the first afternoon I decided to explore myself and arranged for the guide to meet us in the morning.

From our cabin I could hear the two species endemic to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique, Chirinda Apalis and Robert’s Prinia and it did not take too long before I saw both of these and made some nice sound recordings. However, disaster then struck when I must have failed to fully spread my tripod legs and a slight gust of wind caused it to topple over, hitting Rosemary on the head. Fortunately she was alright apart from a good sized lump, but the tripod head broke in two and could not be fixed, putting an end to digiscoping for the rest of the trip. Whilst disappointed that I would not be getting any more bird photos, at least Rosemary was fine and she had a DSLR with her to get some shots for me.

The rest of the afternoon I spent birdwatching along the track past the cabins. Tambourine Doves were calling constantly and Livingstone’s Turaco’s were also very vocal, but both were staying out of sight. A bird party near to the cabin called “Crimsonwing”, held a couple of Cape Batis, a Golden-rumped Tinkerbird, a White-tailed Crested Flycatcher and a Bar-throated Apalis. Whilst a couple of Square-tailed Drongo sang their varied song from the canopy above the bird party.

Back up near our cabin a Bushshrike could be heard singing, but I was not sure which of a couple of possible species it was and I never did see it singing, but not long after saw both Olive and Black-fronted Bushshrikes in the same area. All afternoon I had also been hearing a beautiful song from near the cabin, but it had always been out of sight, but when fetching something from the car I heard the same song from much closer and quickly tracked it down and it was a fine Orange Ground-Thrush.

Before it became dark I added Olive Pigeon, African Yellow White-eye, Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler and African Dusky Flycatcher to the growing list and was really looking forward to the next days birding. It was a very dark night, as a falling tree had taken down the power lines and we were restricted to torches and candles, but at least they had a gas supply so we could make a cup of tea and we had hot water in the shower.

2nd April

We met our guide Buluwezi and soon plunged into the forest taking a track behind the reception building, but not before I had given him a list of target birds. Buluwezi was soon calling out the birds that were singing and he quickly located two calling Livingstone’s Turaco’s and Rosemary spotted a Lemon Dove. Olive Sunbirds were common in the forest and often buzzed past us whenever we stood still. We had more views of most of the species that we had found ourselves yesterday, but we also picked up on both Stripe-cheeked and Yellow-streaked Greenbul’s that had only been heard the previous day.

We spent a while chasing a party of Forest Weaver’s, eventually getting good views of them in the canopy, but it was neck-breaking work. To give our necks a rest we climbed out of the forest into an open area dominated by proteas, although very few were in flower. This more open area was favoured by seed eaters and we picked out a couple of African Firefinches and several Yellow-bellied Waxbills. Buluwezi picked out a female Malachite Sunbird and after a few minutes she was joined by a long-tailed male, whilst an Augur Buzzard drifted over. Surprisingly a Singing Cisticola was the first Cisticola I had seen on the trip, although that had at least saved me the headache of trying to identify them.

Back into the forest and a small pool had Eastern Sawwings swooping over it, whilst Red-backed Mannikins showed well in the grasses growing on the far side from where we were. Further on, Buluwesi spotted a female Buff-spotted Flufftail walking quickly away from the path, but unfortunately neither of us got onto it. We soon became aware that there was also a male, on the opposite side of the path, both birds kept approaching the path, but whenever they saw us quickly dashing away. Eventually we all obtained very good views, particularly of the male who at one point walked along the top of a log in full view.

Well satisfied with our haul we headed back to reception and spent some time looking for Sunbirds, eventually succeeding in seeing a nice male Miombo Sunbird. Back into the forest Buluwezi pointed out an old Swnnerton’s Robin nest, but we could only hear one in the distance. We then broke for lunch and agreed to go with Buluwezi to the Vumba Botanical Gardens in the afternoon.

As we drove into the Botanical Gardens a Long-crested Eagle was perched by the side of the road looking resplendent with his crest blowing in the breeze. Having paid our entrance fee we headed into the gardens which would be just as pleasing for a key gardener as they were for a birder. A cherry tree that was in blossom was attracting lots of Sunbirds and we were able to get excellent views of two new species for the trip Amethyst and Bronze Sunbirds. An African Crowned Eagle glided over and landed in full view about 50 metres away, the first real digiscoping opportunity that I regretted missing out on due to the broken tripod.

Although the gardens were very attractive, the key species we were still looking for would only be found in the forest, so we headed through the ornamental gardens to native forest, but not before adding Brimstone and Cape Canaries. On the forest edge we stopped to watch a Black-fronted Bushshrike and a party of White-eared Barbets, but not for too long as from just within the forest Buluwezi picked up the call of Red-faced Crimsonwings. The birds were within a stand of bamboo and definitely preferred to stay in the middle of it, but with some perseverance we eventually got good views.

Buluwesi then took us to the territory of a Swynnerton’s Robin and we after hearing one singing we eventually tracked it down for good if brief views. Wanting to get better views we headed to another territory, but did not even hear one here, so we returned to the original bird and got better and prolonged views the second time.

Our next targets were two species of Twinspot, so we headed towards the campground, but not before adding Holubs (African) Golden Weaver and White-browed Robin-Chat. Unfortunately there was no sign of either Twinspot or Gorgeous Bush-Shrike another target for me, so these would have to wait for another time.

Heading back to Seldomseen we worked up a plan with Buluwezi for the next day when we were heading to Nyanga National Park. Having found a plan that worked we then had to get the managers of Seldomseen to agree to it, which fortunately they did as long as we paid for the guides time in advance, as we would not be returning after our mornings birding.

3rd April

When I had first discussed my target list with Buluwezi he had mentioned a reserve at Christmas Pass just to the north of Mutare, called Cecil Kop, this was on our way to Nyanga so sounded ideal. We also thought it would be nice to have Buluwezi along with us, so we agreed a plan for a mornings birding and that we would drop him off in Mutare where he could catch a bus back to Seldomseen for which we covered his time and fare.

A 6am start and we first headed to Burma valley, a site for Zambesi Indigobird, also known as Green or Twinspot Indigobird. This was a further out of the way that I had thought and given the limited time that we would have at Cecil Kop I regretted spending just over an hour, which with additional travel time probably cost us two hours at Cecil Kop. This regret was further emphasised by the fact that we were birding in cultivated fields, although we did add a few new birds to the list.

I am not sure how often Buluwezi comes to Burma Valley and whilst he knew where to go, he seemed a little less confident in his identifications that he did around Seldomseen where he knew every call we heard. That may have been because here we were more reliant on visual identification than voice, often seeing birds perched up in dead trees at some distance away and sometimes birds just cannot be positively identified without getting better views.

In this more open habitat there were quite a few species here that I had not seen since leaving Save Valley Conservancy, such as Emerald-spotted Wood-doves, Tawny-flanked Prinia and Yellow-fronted Canary, but also one that I had heard several times at SVC without seeing Black-collared Barbet, so it was good to finally clap my eyes on one.

According to Buluwezi in order to see Zambesi Indigobird it is important to get here early and they are most likely to be seen in dead trees, but there is the added complication of there being 3 other species of indigobird to sort through. Scanning the dead trees had other rewards though as we picked up Striped Kingfisher and Jameson’s Firefinch, whilst in the vegetated trees alongside the road we had a Lesser Honeyguide and Green-capped Eremomela. The highlight for me here though was a Green-backed (Little-spotted) Woodepcker, which spent some time climbing around the trunk of a nearby tree.

We were specifically here for Indigobirds and we did eventually locate our first, as expected in a dead tree, unfortunately this was “only” a Purple Indigobird. I was ready to call it a day and head to Cecil Kop, but Buluwezi suggested walking a track into the fields, we had only just set off down this track when three Indigobirds appeared in a dead tree further down the track. As we got closer to the tree, identification is subtle so you need to get close, we could see that whilst one was a Purple Indigobird the other two were both Zambesi Indigobirds. The green sheen must be quite subtle, as I am not sure that I could see it without imagining hard, but its reddish orange legs, pale whitish bill and lack of a brown panel in the wing clinched the identification. Glad that we had this in the bag we hit the road to Cecil Kop.

Cecil Kop reserve is not signposted, but as you head north out of Mutare towards Christmas Pass there is a little dirt road on the right and it is a few hundred metres up here. It costs a few dollars to enter and according to the sign the gate opens at 8am, so if we had not gone to the Burma Valley we may have been too early to get in anyway.

A few hundred metres through the gate we found a spot to pull over and scrambled up the bank on the left hand side of the road. A Streaky-headed Seedeater put in a brief appearance, but Buluwezi then got a quick view of a Cinnamon-breasted Tit which Rosemary and I both missed. Scrambling further up the hill, the Cinnamon-breasted Tit reappeared and whilst we watched this it was joined by another and a Miombo Tit.

Back down on the road and we called in a Cabanis’s Bunting and then a Miombo Rock-Thrush, which posed for photos. A Striped Pipit was seen by Buluwezi only and we had to be content with just hearing one later.

The next couple of hours were dead, we hardly saw a bird apart from a few Yellow-bellied Waxbills flushing off the road and a displaying Red-collared Widowbird. According to Buluwezi birding in miombo habitat is often like this and you have to find flocks, unfortunately we never found another flock. We did however manage to add one further lifer, when Buluwezi heard a Black-eared Seedeater and we were able to track down two of these.

All to soon it was time to return to Mutare and drop of Buluwezi, but he had one last trick up his sleeve, as we entered Mutare he directed us to a park in the north east of the city, whose name I cannot remember, but we cut through some trees onto Hillside Golf Course. Almost as soon as we emerged from the trees my eyes locked onto a shape on a branch in a tree across the fairway, picking up my binoculars I was amazed to find myself looking at a European Nightjar. Quite a few times I have walked around places where I see Nightjars at night in the UK and never seen one during the day, so it was a nice surprise to find this one here.

The Nightjar was not the reason Buluwezi had brought us here though that was to look for Red-throated (Peter’s) Twinspot and no sooner had we reached the designated spot than we heard several calling and then we were looking at one. Their preference for staying inside the trees where it was rather dark made getting a decent photo quite difficult though.

We then dropped Buluwezi off in Mutare with our thanks and headed north to Nyanga National Park. This was to be Rosemary’s birthday treat, so birding was a side activity and we would not visit Aberfoyle, which is the main area that birders tend to go for species such as Anchieta’s Tchagra. Having checked into the beautiful Pine Tree Inn, where we were the only guests, we had a lovely cream tea, before climbing Susurumba a hill just beside the inn. Whilst I heard Robert’s Prinia and a probable Red-necked Francolin no new birds were seen, but one mammal addition in the shape of a Klipspringer was seen.

4th April

With no particular birding sites in mind we just planned to visit some of the key tourist attractions beginning at World’s View, on route we saw a couple of Red-knobbed Coots and African Stonechats proved to be quite common. It was an enjoyable climb up to the top of World’s view with a slight scramble at the end and a great view from the top. No birds of note were seen on the way up, but a Cisticola up on top caused some confusion as I did not have a field guide with me, eventually when we got back down I was able to identify it as a Wailing Cisticola.

Whilst having a relaxed lunch overlooking a gold course it started to rain for the first time during my time in Zimbabwe and it continued to rain all afternoon. Despite the rain we visited Pungwe Falls via the “scenic drive”, whilst the road might have been reasonable in dry conditions, only requiring high ground clearance in the wet it definitely needed 4 wheel drive in places. Having walked the last part of the track to the falls, rather than risk getting the vehicle stuck, we were totally soaked so going for a swim in the river seemed a good if cold option.

Whilst sat in the bar later in the evening, a pair of African Wood Owls began calling just outside. As I stepped outside to see if I could see them, one of them took off from a low branch in the nearest tree and glided away into the darkness.

5th April

We had planned to climb Nyangani, Zimbabwe’s highest mountain, but low cloud in the morning made us reassess our plans and we began by visiting Nyangombe Falls, where we saw our first Lesser Grey Shrike at the car park and Rock Martin and Mountain Wagtails by the falls. Driving back down the road from the falls we spent some time photographing White-fronted Bee-eaters and Red-collared Widowbirds.

With the weather still not great we decided to head to Ziwa monument, a historical site from the 15th to 17th century with terraces, pit enclosures, hill forts, meeting places, etc. At one place the road had been washed away and we were forced to drive along the stream until we could find a place to cross, this turned up a marsh area with a Grosbeak Weaver, an Orange-breasted Waxbill and several Black-winged Bishops. We spent a pleasant hour on a guided tour around the monument, before beginning the drive back stopping for lunch at the stream crossing where a beautiful Black-breasted Snake-Eagle glided over.

In the afternoon we drove a circle through the park visiting the starting point for the climb up Nyangani, but we did not have enough time to make the climb now that the weather had improved. At a lake that we drove past we added Little Grebe and African Black Duck to the list, before heading back to the Pine Tree Inn.

6th April

We opted against rushing up Nyangani and decided upon a lazy breakfast instead, before beginning the long drive back to Save Valley Conservancy. A brief stop, still within Nyanga, to watch an Augur Buzzard turned into a longer stop to watch Red-collard Widowbirds and brief views of a party of very noisy Robert’s Prinias. A stop in Mutare for some shopping delivered two trip ticks, whilst White-throated Swallow was pleasing, adding House Sparrow to the list did not have quite the same impact.

Back at SVC I had a short walk down to the airstrip and back, enjoying seeing the Great Spotted Cuckoo was still being fed by the Meve’s Glossy Starlings. One surprise I had though was four Bennett’s Woodpeckers, especially considering that I had seen none previously, three of which were actively chasing each other around. Back in the garden a Spectacled Weaver put in an appearance, helping to answer the questions as to the identity of some of the Weaver nests in the garden.

7th April

This was my last full day in SVC and I spent most of the day enjoying the local birds with highlights being second only trip sightings of Groundscraper Thrush, Brubru and African Reed Warbler. Later in the day we went for a game drive and to try and catch up with Arnot’s Chat and Racket-tailed Roller, both of which are found in mopane woodland within SVC. Unfortunately we did not find either, so they will have to wait for another trip, but we did hear a Southern Ground Hornbill. The main highlight however was a party of Dwarf Mongoose that had a burrow in an anthill and kept poking their heads out of different holes as we watched them.

8th April

Today I was flying home so had no time to do any birding before leaving, but did see a Purple-crested Turaco in the garden whilst packing the car and two Martial Eagles flying over the road not long after leaving SVC on route to Harare.

My total number of species seen within 10 minutes’ walk of Rosemary’s home was 132 species and since I left Rosemary has noted Crowned and Trumpeter Hornbill’s in the area, both of which I failed to see. There were still plenty of species to look for as over 250 species were recorded in Chishakwe Ranch in an annual survey recently.

I can thoroughly recommend Zimbabwe as a birdwatching destination and whilst it shares a lot of birds with South Africa there is enough difference to keep anyone who has already visited there interested. I only visited a small area of Zimbabwe and if a trip also incorporated other sites such as Hwange and Victoria Falls that would open a whole range of extra species.

looks lush Mark, and some mouthwatering specialities.

Nice trip report Mark, the up close and personal encounters with the Wild Dogs must have been something special. Think I stayed in the Crimsonwing cabin you mentioned, good to hear Seldomseen is in business despite the last decade or so of problems for the country in general.

Did you get a feel from your travels or from Rosemary whether things are getting better in general?

Cheers,

GDK said:

Did you get a feel from your travels or from Rosemary whether things are getting better in general?

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The country has a number of problems particularly food production, but is fairly stable at the moment and certainly feels very safe for a visiting tourist. The land reform act, which resulted in the farms being reallocated to indiginous populations, has resulted in a lot of overgrown areas with subsistence farming in places. Save Valley Conservancy was in the news alot last year as the land reform act was applied to it, which has significantly affected the number of visitors there and it now faces the threat of diamond exploration. There are elections planned for later this years, so we will see how things develop then.